Missing
by Vikitty
Summary: Brennan and the Squints work against the clock to find Booth before it’s too late.
1. Chapter 1

Missing

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own "Bones" or any of the characters associated with "Bones"… I wish I did though.  
**Pairings:** Booth/Brennan, Angela/Hodgins  
**Spoilers: **Season 2+  
**Summary: **Brennan and the Squints work against the clock to find Booth before it's too late.  
**A/N: **The title's only tentative. I haven't written enough to actually know what I should name the fic, but I had to name it something. I also plan on releasing a new chapter each week, on Wednesdays, at least until the hiatus is over. And this is totally unedited because I'm lazy. XP

---

Dr. Temperance Brennan was going through papers on her desk when one of her co-workers, Angela Montenegro, burst through her office doors with a smile and a Santa hat on her head. She looked up, pale eyes flashing with annoyance.

"Merry Christmas, Sweetie!" Angela exclaimed, ignoring her friend's irritation. "Everybody's wondering where you are."

"They know where I am," Brennan replied swiftly.

"They're wondering why you aren't out there with them."

Brennan eyed the half-Asian, half-Caucasian woman leaning against her desk before depositing the papers into an envelope. "They also know why I'm not out there. Say, Angela," Brennan said, grabbing her coat from her chair, "Is Booth out there?"

Angela shook her head and followed Brennan out the door. "Nope. Did you even invite him?"

"I left a message on his answering machine. Or, at least I think I did," she added, waving to the other two members of her team, who were standing around the platform in the middle of the Medico-Laboratory at the Jeffersonian Institute, each with a drink in hand.

"You think!? When was the last time he called you anyway? I think you should totally dump him."

Brennan stopped and whirled around. "We aren't going out. He's just my partner, that's all," Brennan stated firmly, her face only mere inches away from Angela's. "How much have you had anyway?" She resumed her walk towards the front door just as her cell phone started to ring. "Brennan," she answered.

"I'm pretty sure there's more alcohol than eggnog—" Angela started but was cut-off by Brennan's hand in her face.

"Wa—wait, who is this? Calm down. Who is this?" Brennan frowned, her eyes darting from Angela to Jack Hodgins, the entomologist on her team, and Zack Addy, her assistant and grad student. "Rebecca?" she asked, confused. More darting glances. "Okay, I'll be right there."

Brennan turned to face her team of scientists, her face pale. "That was Rebecca, Parker's mother. Apparently she was supposed to pick up Parker half an hour ago, but there's no answer at Booth's place, and he's not answering his home or cell phone."

"But… we aren't trained for missing persons cases…" Zack commented, coming down the stairs towards the girls with Hodgins right behind him.

Brennan shook her head impatiently. "I still have to go..."

"Sweetie, you want me to come with?" Angela asked, taking off her Santa hat.

"Sure," she replied, shrugging on her coat and heading through the door with Angela on her tail.

"I guess we'll wait here for your call…" Hodgins called after them. "Should we have offered to go too?" he asked as an afterthought.

---

It was dark when Brennan got out of her car. Angela had to jog to catch up to her long strides. She saw Rebecca standing in the front yard with a sandy-haired man who she forgot the name of, but knew as Rebecca's boyfriend. Both looked beyond worried and the man looked like he was ready to knock down the front door.

"Dr. Brennan," Rebecca said, walking forward to meet her. The man nodded his head in greeting.

Brennan nodded at the pair and started walking up to the front door. "When was the last time you heard from Booth?" she asked, knocking on the door.

"Three days ago…" Rebecca said, looking at her boyfriend for confirmation. "Yeah, three days ago. Drew and I were going out of state, so we had dropped Parker off the morning of. And then we called to check up on how Parker was doing at night, and everything sounded fine. Do you think Booth kidnapped Parker?"

Brennan frowned at the blonde woman. "Booth's an FBI agent," she stated bluntly. Digging into her pocket, she fished out her keychain and looked for the key labelled 'SB'.

Angela, still buzzed and with a lazy smile on her face, said, "Since when did Booth give you his key? And why didn't I hear about this?"

Ignoring her best friend, she unlocked the door and pushed it forward slowly. It was undeniable that her heart was hammering in her chest. Three days ago… that was when Booth had called her last. She had just gotten comfortable in her bed, and he had called to say 'hi' because the last case they had worked on together ended a week and a half ago and they hadn't seen each other since. Although she was unable to explain it, that one call had brightened up her entire week. But, that was Friday night, and nobody had heard from him since.

"Uh, are you going to go in?" Drew asked impatiently.

Brennan gave him a look and walked in carefully. Her black boots on the hardwood flooring sounded loud even to her ears. "Booth?" she yelled. Her right foot stepped on something hard, creating a cracking sound. Looking down, she saw it was a broken vase. Her hand reached out for the light switch on the wall, and they were momentarily blinded by the sudden light in the room. When they could see again, Rebecca gasped and Angela chirped in with an, "Oh my God…," while Brennan and Drew took in the scene quietly.

The foyer looked like a storm had ripped through it. Pictures that were on the wall were in pieces on the floor. The lamps were knocked over unceremoniously, and were lying in a puddle of water and flowers which used to be in the broken vase. There were scratch marks on the wall, most probably made from something sharp, and Brennan could see what she could only assume as blood in some of the scratches. She could also see bullet holes in the walls, and not for the last time, wished she was toting a gun for situations like these.

"Angela, call the FBI," Brennan said distractedly. She was only emotionally-dazed; the forensic anthropologist in her was working on automatic. She had moved further into the house and was turning on all the lights. The entire house looked like the foyer. She was nearing the bedroom when she heard a thump. Stopping suddenly, Drew bumped into her and whispered, "What?"

"I heard a noise in the bedroom," Brennan said, moving so she was in front of the closed door. "Why are you whispering?"

"It seemed like a whispering moment," Drew explained lamely.

Brennan gave him a look before kicking down the bedroom door with force. Among the noise of wood breaking, she heard a muted scream, but one look at the bedroom told her there was nobody in there. There was that thump again. She moved towards the closet, ready to kick the crap out of whoever was in there, but upon inspection, it was just Booth's clothes.

And then she felt and heard it under her feet. Moving the brown, oriental rug away, she saw there was a trap door leading to what she guessed was a crawlspace.

"Drew, I need your help. Grab something, anything, and get into position in case somebody attacks us," Brennan ordered, getting onto her knees so she could have better leverage.

Drew looked around the room and grabbed a broken desk lamp. He nodded to Brennan when he was ready.

Brennan nodded back and flipped open the door. Her mouth dropped open as a pair of eyes, swollen from crying, stared up at her in fear. "Oh my… Parker," she gasped, lifting Booth's four-year-old son out.

Drew dropped the lamp and gathered the boy into his arms. "Your mom and I were so worried, Parker," he cried. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? God, there's blood all over your shirt."

"Oh my God!!" Rebecca shrieked, running into the bedroom, hugging both Drew and Parker.

Feeling awkward, Brennan walked back towards the front door, where Angela was sifting through the mess that used to be Booth's work table.

Angela looked up, brown eyes curious.

"We, uh, we found Parker," Brennan answered.

"Where?"

"In Booth's bedroom," she said, biting her lower lip. "He was under a trapdoor in the closet."

Angela's eyes widen. "How did he get there?"

"I don't know. He's got blood all over him though, but he doesn't look like he's in any pain, so I don't think it's his blood."

"How are you doing, sweetie?"

Brennan shrugged. "I don't know, honestly." She chuckled when Angela gave her a hug. "We don't know anything yet, so I can't really think anything of all this."

"Yeah, but you can be worried. I know you're worried. You never answered me before: when did you talk to Booth last? Did you really invite him to the party?"

Brennan gave her best friend an exasperated look. "Are you going to start interrogating me again?"

Angela grinned. "Just trying to get the facts, sweetie."

"Friday," she answered, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Friday night."

"Same as Rebecca then. And nobody's been able to reach him since?"

"Well, I tried calling him on both Saturday and Sunday. He didn't answer either call, but I just assumed he was busy with Parker. He said he was going to bring him to the aquarium on Saturday, and Sunday they were going to the zoo." Brennan sighed. Her eyes darted to the bloody walls again.

"Well, maybe he was. Parker's here, right? We can ask him later."

"Ask him what later?" Rebecca asked, coming out of the bedroom with streaks of tears on her cheeks. Drew was carrying Parker, who looked like he was asleep..

"What happened the last three days, but that can wait," Brennan said distractedly. There was a lot of dried blood on Parker's t-shirt; she had a feeling it was Booth's. The moment that thought came up she mentally scolded herself. No conclusions without corroboration. She took a deep, calming breath before saying, "The FBI should be on their way, let's wait for them in the front yard so we don't disturb the evidence anymore than we already have."

---

Brennan watched Rebecca, Parker and Drew leave in the ambulance, lost in thought. She was leaning against her car and waiting impatiently for Angela, who was talking to an FBI agent with spiked up dirty blonde hair, who had questioned her earlier. She had been given the green light by Sam Cullen, Booth's boss, to go back to the Jeffersonian and start going over every single piece of evidence they had acquired from the crime scene. She shuddered. Booth's place was a crime scene, and that scared her to no end.

"Sweetie, we can go now," Angela said, giving the red head a hug.

The agent who had questioned them had followed Angela over. "Don't worry, Dr. Brennan. We'll find Agent Booth," he said. "You work on whatever Deputy Director Cullen has given you and we'll find him. Cullen would never say this, but he's 110 sure that you squints will come up with something."

Ignoring the 'squint' comment, Brennan replied, "Thank you, Agent Falcon."

"We'll keep in touch. You two have my number. Call me if you find anything," Falcon said.

"Wait, what about Booth's son? Has he said anything yet?" Angela asked, looking hopeful.

Falcon turned around a shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. He hasn't said a single word to anybody but the paramedics say he's still in shock. We might have to wait a day or two before we can talk to him again. Rebecca's willing to cooperate, but she's a bit touchy when it comes to Parker. I don't blame her. If my kid went through something this traumatic, I'd just want people to leave him alone."

Brennan and Angela watched Falcon leave in silence before getting into the car and heading back to the lab.

* * *

**Edit//**  
1. Thanks to mendenbar for the 'Deputy Director' Cullen thing! 


	2. Chapter 2

Missing

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: **Hi! I'm sure most of you are asleep by now, but I live on the west coast, so it's still Wednesday, so no lies there. ;p Enjoy! More next Wednesday… hopefully early-Wednesday next time. Thanks again to my friend Cait for beta-ing!

---

Glancing at the clock on her computer, Brennan saw that it was nearly 2 a.m. She could see the lights in her team's offices were still on. Angela was re-creating the crime scene on her computer from photos Zack had taken earlier and Hodgins was analyzing the broken furniture with Zack's help. They were looking for anything that might lead them one step closer to Booth. Sighing for the umpteenth time today, she tied her hair up into a ponytail and was about to stand up when her phone rang. She snatched the receiver off the base like a madwoman. "Brennan," she said, sounding calmer than she felt.

"Oh, hi, Dr. Brennan. It's Agent Falcon. I was just going to leave a message. I thought you'd have retired for the day." The voice on the line was soft, yet masculine. She could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

"Uh, yeah, we're still working hard over here."

"That's good to hear. We're working just as hard over here, too. The forensics lab just got back to me regarding the blood on Parker's t-shirt." The phone went quiet.

Brennan bit her lower lip to keep from yelling. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "And?" She hated FBI agents, or any authorities for that matter, who play the drama card.

"Parker was unharmed, because none of the blood belonged to him," Falcon said. "The blood belongs to Booth."

"Okay…," Brennan said quietly. Scenarios started running through her head, all of them ending with her partner's death. She swallowed hard, and had to clear her throat a couple times before continuing. "Did you learn anything else from the t-shirt?"

"We aren't sure yet. The lab is still checking. They should call me back in an hour or so. I'll call you after I hear from them. Or maybe I'll call in the morn—"

"Please call me right away, Agent Falcon. The faster we know, the faster we can link everything together, the faster we can solve this case."

"All right. Take care, Dr. Brennan," Falcon said. "Take a nap," he added. "A tired human makes mistakes, and we can't afford any." Brennan hung up after assuring him she and her team would get some rest.

Her boots echoed as she walked across the Medico-Legal Lab to Angela's office, where she was nursing a steaming hot cup of coffee in front of her computer with Hodgins and Zack looking over her shoulder.

"What have we got?" Brennan asked, taking her place next to Angela. The picture on the screen showed Booth's ruined kitchen.

"Possibly something," Angela replied, typing rapidly on the keyboard. "The house was attacked randomly, or at least a pattern hasn't popped up at me yet – except for the kitchen. You see the window here?" She pointed to the broken window above the sink. "The shattered glass is indoors, indicating that it was broken from the outside. The break pattern, indicated by the left over glass on the edges, shows it was shattered by something small, impacting it at high speed and force."

Brennan shook her head. "There was no bullet at the crime scene. At least the FBI forensics team didn't find one… but the neighbours did say they thought they heard gunshots being fired Sunday night." She bit her lower lip in thought.

"Angela, bring up the picture of the area opposite the sink," Hodgins said. He looked at Brennan with an excited twinkle in his blue eyes when he continued, "There is a pattern of sprayed blood on the wall. Not noticeable at first as a spray pattern, because they were smeared by somebody, probably the perp trying to wipe some of the evidence away. There was blood on the walls in different places of the house right? Anyway, Angela used pixilation to detect some of the darker areas of the blood on the kitchen wall, and a pattern appeared, with a clean spot right in the middle, free of the blood spray."

"Which suggests," Zack continued the thought, his hands in his blue lab coat pockets, "that some thing or body was in the way of the blood spray when it happened. We weren't able to discern any blood patterns on any of the objects in the kitchen from these pictures. Angela was in the process of recreating what the pattern would've looked liked on the object that had to have been between the wall and, well…" He faltered at the end, and looked at his teacher apologetically.

"No, go on, Zack," Brennan said. She had come to that very conclusion after the introduction of 'the blood spray on the wall,' even though she hadn't liked it one bit.

"… The person the bullet hit," Zack concluded.

Brennan nodded, happy that her team had dug up something. "Agent Falcon called, and said that the DNA of the blood on Parker's shirt matches Booth's DNA," she announced. Angela, Hodgins, and Zack looked at each other. "And no," she continued, answering their unspoken question, "he didn't say anything about a pattern, because the FBI labs are still running tests on it. I'll make sure to get them to compare the blood on the wall to the blood on the shirt." Avoiding their eyes, she left Angela's office and headed for the lounge upstairs.

---

Angela watched her best friend leave with worried eyes. She knew Brennan hated feeling vulnerable. Better give her some time to cool down and compose herself.

"You okay there?" Hodgins asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She took comfort from that touch and looked up into his sparkling blue eyes. There was a time when that would have been awkward, but she was used to it by now.

"Yeah. I guess…"

"I know what you mean," Zack said, sitting down on a nearby stool. "The only other time I've seen Dr. Brennan like this was when she found her mother's bones…"

"It's not just that," Angela said, doodling on a pad of paper beside the computer. "I mean this is Booth we're talking about. And you guys should have seen Parker when Rebecca brought him out. The amount of blood on his shirt…"

"He must have been really scared," Hodgins pondered softly.

"No, that's the thing. He looked calm and empty. Too calm, but the EMTs said he was in shock." She sighed and looked in the direction of the lounge where Brennan's head was buried in her hands.

"Go talk to her, Angela," Hodgins said, nudging her gently with his knee. "Zack and I can re-create the pattern."

She smiled at the two boys in gratitude. "And send it to the FBI labs after you're done."

"And send it to the FBI," Hodgins repeated, admiring the artist's retreating back.

"Her art never ceases to amaze me," Zack stated.

Hodgins spun around to find that Zack had already slipped into Angela's seat. "What?"

The younger man held up the pad of paper. On it was a drawing, in pen, of the missing father and his son, both smiling like they were hiding something from the world.

---

It mortified her that she had to leave Angela's office, but the mini-movies in her head wouldn't stop playing. _Stop it, Temperance, stop it!_ There was no hard evidence that it was Booth who took that bullet, if it even was a bullet. She was going to have to go back to Boo—the crime scene tomorrow and look for that bullet, or fragments of it.

"Sweetie?"

Brennan looked up, startled. She was wrapped up in a hug before she knew it. "Ang…" A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"You know you want to smile even though it's past two in the morning, none of us have had dinner, and we're all starting to resemble racoons," Angela joked, settling into her seat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize… dinner—"

"Nuh-uh, sweetie, it was a joke. This is more important. How are you holding up?"

Brennan leaned back and looked at her best friend. The woman in front of her had a kind smile on her face that reached her brown eyes, which were unguarded and full of adoration. She was lucky to have Angela, who brought out most of the life and joy in the lab. Where would she be without her?

"Thank you," she whispered gratefully, lowering her head. "I'm feeling okay. A little helpless though."

"Booth knows you're working extra hard to find him, Bren. He wouldn't trust anybody else to do the job, because he knows you're the best."

Not knowing what to say to that, Brennan chuckled. Her eyes wandered to the clock on the wall. "Let's go tell Zack and Hodgins they can go home after they're done whatever they're doing. Agent Falcon's right, we might get careless if we don't get enough sleep."

As they were going downstairs, a thought entered Angela's mind. She didn't want her best friend to be alone right now. No doubt Brennan would just lie in bed and worry. "Want to crash at my place?" she asked.

"I don't have any of my stuff with me…"

"You left your Jeffersonian T-shirt at my place last time. You know, that extra large one Dr. Goodman gave you for no reason whatsoever? Plus I can lend you anything you need. And we can swing by your place tomorrow morning so you can get a change of clothes!"

Brennan nodded. "Sounds good, but no alcohol," she warned teasingly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Missing – Chapter 3**

**A/N: **'Ello mates. Midterms are over. I think chapter 4 is going to be a bit longer… heh. Much thanks to Jenn for beta-ing this chapter for me, and for teaching me the hidden wonders of MS Word.

---

Her arm darted out from underneath the covers the instant her cell phone started ringing. She knocked her hand on the bedside table several times and cursed. "Brennan," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She glanced over at Angela, who was lying on her stomach and peering at her with one eye.

"Morning. It's Falcon. I'm sorry I woke you up…"

Brennan propped herself up on one elbow and looked at the radio alarm clock on the other bedside table. It was almost half past five in the morning. "No, don't apologize. What did the FBI lab find?"

"They found a blood splatter pattern on the front of the shirt, but that's about it. The photos of the splatter Dr. Hodgins sent us match the pattern on the shirt. The FBI lab couldn't find anything else, but your team might be able to. They're still working on the rest of the blood in the house. They know to send you whatever you need. I'll be heading over to Ms. Stinson's after three, if you're interested. I have to update her on the case." Falcon said.

"Um," she started, trying to take in all the information. "Yeah, that would be great. I'll meet you at Rebecca's at three." Her eyes darted to her best friend again, who had her whole head turned towards her now, and was mouthing 'crime scene' over and over. "Right, Agent Falcon, is it okay for me and some of my team members to re-visit the crime scene today?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Yeah, if you think you guys can find any more clues." Another pause. "_Did_ you find any more clues?"

"We have a hypothesis regarding the kitchen scenario, but I don't want to jump to conclusions until we find more evidence to support it." Angela was nodding her head in approval.

"Right. Well, you're part of the investigation team, so you do have some authority, but I would like to be informed of any new results you and your team find…" Falcon sounded a bit peeved.

"Yes, of course, I agree completely. We have to keep the communication lines open, and that's why I'm informing you that my team might have found something," she explained. "But like I said, I don't want to jump to conclusions yet. We'll probably have more information by the time I meet you at Rebecca's." Angela rolled her eyes and snuggled with her pillow.

"Great. I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you by the way. It's— " Falcon started. Brennan could hear the sincere apology in his voice and smiled.

"No, it's fine. So the pictures have been e-mailed to the Jeffersonian?"

"Uh, no. Actually, the t-shirt itself should be arriving sometime before nine, that way you can check it out for yourself. Just keep me updated, okay? I'll see you later."

"Yeah, of course," Brennan said before hanging up. She fluffed her pillow up and settled back.

"So Falcon was trying to man-power-trip you, huh?" Angela asked, her voice muffled.

"Mm-hmm." She was staring at the smooth white ceiling, her mind whirring and creating a to-do list. "Ang?"

"Yeah?"

"The blood pattern matches the pattern Hodgins and Zack created."

Angela propped herself up on her elbows. "So, Parker was there when Booth got shot. Oh my God, does Rebecca know?"

Brennan shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so. I think that's part of the reason why Falcon's going over to Rebecca's today. Ang, they're sending us Parker's shirt for further examination, so I need you and Hodgins to be at the lab before nine," she said while dialling Zack's number. "I'll need Zack with me until I go to Rebecca's. Do you think—Hi Zack, I'll be at your place in an hour. We're going back to Booth's, so be ready." She hung up before Zack could protest. Turning back to Angela, she continued, "Do you think you can drive me home?"

What else could Angela say? The sleepy woman nodded and stumbled out of bed for a quick shower in a daze. Brennan watched her go and a sense of loss and confusion settled in her heart. She was scared out of her wits, and was grateful Angela had invited her over for the night. She felt like it was all on her to solve Booth's disappearance, and the pressure was driving her nuts. Usually she liked the pressure, but usually she didn't know the victim. She took a deep breath and exhaled it shakily before getting out of bed. She had to focus; Booth's life was at stake.

---

"Are you all right?" Zack, her intelligent grad student and assistant, asked. Brennan looked over and gave him a quick smile before opening her car door. They were at Seeley Booth's place of residence; crime scene. Whatever.

Except for the police tape blocking the front door, everything still looked the same. And that gave here a sense of reassurance for some reason. She took out the key that she had used last night and let herself and Zack in. It looked exactly like she had found it last night, but creepier, if that was possible. The rising sun was shining through the windows, and it bathed everything in white light.

She walked into the kitchen, Zack following close behind her with their equipment. The wall they were supposed to look at was on the right. Ignoring the fact that this was most likely Booth's blood, she took in the big picture. How Angela even saw a pattern to begin with was amazing. All she could see were smears.

"Okay, so we're looking for a bullet or shards of a bullet, correct?" Zack asked, handing his teacher a pair of latex gloves whilst putting on a pair himself. He started taking out evidence bags and tweezers.

"Yes. Check the walls, the floor, and the broken furniture." Brennan felt silly saying that, seeing as that was pretty much the whole kitchen, but Zack was pretty literal, so… "But try not to disturb the crime scene too much," she added as an afterthought. "Thank you, Zack."

The brown haired man looked up only for a second before going back to rummaging. "For what? You _do_ know that we care about Booth, too, right? Throughout the year, we've gotten to know him, and he's gotten to know us. He might not like admitting it, but deep inside, he's a 'squint' too. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself, Dr. Brennan. Share the burden." He looked up again to give her a nod.

Brennan smiled to herself as she began to work, musing over Zack's advice quietly.


End file.
